'Our focus has been about evolving and really becoming a digital company across all facets,' says CIO Scott Rice

Sprint Corp.’s technology executives say they’re working to develop AI-powered software that could help call center representatives with customer inquiries, in an example of how artificial intelligence is poised to work alongside the human workforce.

The effort is part of Sprint’s ongoing digital transformation project, which involves a partnership with Adobe Systems Inc. and an emphasis on deriving value from big data and analytics.

“Our focus has been about evolving and really becoming a digital company across all facets,” said Scott Rice, chief information officer for Sprint, adding that the company has significantly expanded its use of data over the past five years.

Sprint CIO Scott Rice
Photo:
Sprint Corp.

“It’s become core across all our infrastructure and we really are changing our mindset,” he said.

Mr. Rice said the company is planning on using massive amounts of data about customer calls to develop so-called “interaction assistants,” or software programs that can suggest the next best steps for employees to take during a call. The software would be powered by machine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence that enables computers to learn from data with minimal programming.

For example, if a call center employee is talking to a customer about a specific topic, the company could use machine learning to turn the audio into text, analyze it, and return filtered results to give them real-time potential solutions to help that customer, said Rob Roy, Sprint’s chief digital officer. Mr. Roy is working alongside Mr. Rice on the digital transformation initiative.

Sprint CDO Rob Roy
Photo:
Sprint Corp.

Call center agents using this type of artificial intelligence system could reduce the time they spend searching through databases and asking managers for help, which would in turn reduce the amount of time the customer spends on the phone, Mr. Roy said.

Artificial intelligence could also help in training call center representatives, he said. “If they’re on day two, and someone has three or four different inquiries, they may feel overwhelmed and it may be a really long call,” he said. “AI can help … by putting next best actions and ideas in front of that rep.”

The AI software could be deployed at call centers within the next year, the executives said.

Sprint’s technology executives say they’re also using data as a way to customize digital marketing advertisements to specific customers. Using an Adobe service that collates anonymized IP address data, Sprint can tell whether two devices — for example, a mobile phone and a laptop — are connected to a current or prospective customer.

That way, if a person is browsing a specific product on their mobile phone, a personalized message could pop up on that same person’s desktop about that same product.

“The more tailored we can be in our messaging, it’ll help us reduce churn and improve customer satisfaction,” Mr. Rice said. “... In such a competitive wireless and telecommunication environment, what it comes down to is raising the level of service, communication and interaction with that customer base.”

For about six months the company has been using so-called cross-device identification to help target digital advertisements. Sprint’s technology executives declined to disclose details on how it’s impacted the business.

“It’s been extremely beneficial to us in how we think about and use our data to create better decisions,” Mr. Roy said.